Trucks carry a bulk of the goods within the United States. Driver's have a difficult lifestyle in which they spend much of their time within the cab and sleeper of their over the road tractor trailers. They must comply with federal regulations in the United States that limit the amount of time behind the wheel as well as boredom and discomfort living life within the walls of what has been likened to a small mobile studio apartment. For employers that employ over the road drivers, retention has become a challenge. The general method of moving goods with trucks is not likely to change in the foreseeable future. The results of a survey performed by the inventors of this patent show that during their off-hours, truckers spend an average of 3.6 hours in truck awake. Of these hours, they spend about one hour preparing food, nearly an hour socializing with friends inside their trucks, and about 2.5 hours entertaining themselves with television or books. This invention and the project that it sprang from is intended to:    Create a space that drivers will be proud to show to other drivers,    Allow for 3–5 truckers to socialize together in the truck comfortably,    Create a space for food preparation and storage specific to the eating habits of truckers,    Create a bright and entertaining environment,    Give drivers a sense of separation between work and leisure,    Give drivers a way to isolate their sleeping space from their living space, and    Optimize the limited amount of space in a sleeper for storage.
Research pointed heavily towards providing truck drivers with a place to lounge comfortably, and utilizing the lower bunk space for the dual purpose of seating and sleeping is the most efficient way to achieve this. It was very important that the transition from seating to sleeping and back be as quick and effortless as possible. Any amount of extra effort on the driver's would most likely lead to underutilization of the feature. This criterion led us to the raised floor sleeper vehicle specifically a highway truck. The invention focuses on providing a raised floor in the sleeper section of a line haul truck. The raised floor allows the driver to access the previously unusable upper space. This allows for innovation within the space, because now that drivers can touch it, putting components there makes a lot of sense. This also makes the floor space more useable with the possibilities for storage, insulation, telescoping and retracting subcomponents.
One of the items that it is used in conjunction with the raised floor is a combination stool and coffee table. The solution of the combination stool and coffee table is two fold, affording a perching height stool for doing work on the flexible workspace desk or providing a social environment for the targeted three to five truckers to sit comfortably in the sleeper. The coffee table partners with the flat screen television installed in the upper space to create a cinematic yet ergonomic environment. When not in use, the combination stool and coffee table is stored in the raised floor storage space. The table also functions as a great secondary work surface or an ottoman for lounging or watching television. Finally, because the coffee table is not fixed to a wall and is free standing in the middle of the space it has the effect of enlarging the space. It can be navigated 360 degrees, which effectively makes the space feel much larger.